Mildred “Mit" Joyner
Term: (July 2010–June 2013)
Mildred “Mit" Joyner is a full professor and chair emerita of the undergraduate social work department at West Chester University (WCU). Joyner recently coauthored Caregivers for Persons Living with HIV/AIDS in Kenya: An Ecological Perspective (2012) and is also coauthor of Critical Multicultural Social Work (2008) and is recognized nationally for her leadership, especially in gerontology social work education. In 2005 in honor of her leadership and vision, the Association for Gerontology Education in Social Work created a scholarship, the Mit Joyner Gerontology Leadership Award, for undergraduate social work faculty and students to promote leadership in gerontological social work practice through scholarship, best practices, and/or community connections.
Joyner is a member of the National Association of Social Workers and the ANSWER Coalition. She serves on the board of the International Association of Schools of Social Work as the representative from the United States. Joyner is a former president of the Association of Baccalaureate Social Work Program Directors (BPD) and was the site selector for the Association of Baccalaureate Social Workers. She has served on the executive committee and as treasurer of the Institute for the Advancement of Social Work Research; and is a previous board member of the Institute for Geriatric Social Work and the CSWE Gero-Ed Center (gerontological education). Joyner received the 2011 BPD Social Work Directors Lifetime Achievement Award. In the community, she has served on the board of directors for DNB First (previously known as Downingtown National Bank) since 2005. She is also immediate past chair of Living Beyond Breast Cancer (LBCC), a national education and support organization whose goal is to improve the quality of life and help all women affected by breast cancer to take an active role in their ongoing recovery or management of the disease. In 2011 Joyner received the Going Beyond Award from LBBC for her leadership in securing funding for the organization.
In the field of social work her research interests include gerontology, child abuse, race relations, and lowering disparity factors among groups in the United States and our global community. A former member of the WCU faculty since 1981, she chaired the undergraduate social work program for more than 25 years.